India NEWS

If sources were to be believed, RIL head, Mukesh Ambani is mulling plans of boosting the capacity of the world’s largest refinery complex in Jamnagar. If the proposition goes through, Jamnagar refinery will see an addition of new plant with crude processing capacity of 30 million tpa. RIL is fortifying its place in India where energy demand, according to IEA, is expected to more than double by 2040.

India’s ONGC Videsh and Petronet LNG are jointly taking a move to buy stakes in Driftwood project in Louisiana proposed by Tellurian Inc's. The MD of Petronet said “We have moved slightly forward... we are evaluating it seriously and we are in serious discussion with them,” The two companies are jointly initiating this talk in order to grow India's pipeline network and increase the use of cleaner fuel.

In order to pay its overdue dividends to ONGC Videsh Ltd, Venezuelan state-owned PDVSA has shipped a $35 million crude cargo. This is the partial payment to the firm. This payment is in accordance with the deal signed by PDVSA and ONGC Videsh in 2016. If sources were to be believed, PDVSA did not transfer any money in over a year because of the economic breakdown in Venezuela.

US has almost agreed to grant waiver to India owing to the decision India made to cut oil imports from Iran. A source informed “India and the US have broadly agreed on waiver. India will cut import by about 35% from last year (2017-18), which is a significant cut”. Iran will face re-imposition of sanctions from November 4 after which no one can do business with Tehran without US’ consent.

Metro construction workers, on Monday, damaged GAIL’s underground gas pipeline while drilling a road in Bengaluru. GAIL’s fire safety team attended to the damaged pipeline, as the fire brigade rushed to the spot. Bengaluru Metro Corp. and its contractor have been booked under various sections of PNGRB and IPC. BMRCL cited lack of knowledge about the pipeline presence in the area as the reason of not asking permission from GAIL.

The Government of India has extended Vedanta’s contract for the Rajasthan block by 10 years, the company informed through a regulatory filing. Vedanta has been in a 3-year long legal dispute, which is still underway, with the government over the terms of the renewal. The government wanted an added 10% share in profit from the Rajasthan field during the extension, to which Vedanta had refused.

India’s Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) released its second quarter earnings. Mumbai refinery unit of the organization was closed by a fire which had a negative impact on the overall earnings. The profit of this quarter, 12.18 billion Indian rupees, was below the expectations of the analysts. The Q2 profit of this year halved the profit of corresponding quarter of the last year which was 23.57 billion rupees.

The Government of India is looking to relax the norms concerning setting up of petrol pumps to attract more private players into fuel retailing in order to increase competition. An expert committee will report to the Oil Ministry in 60 days on the matter. The current norms to obtain a fuel retailing licence in India require an investment of ₹2,000 crore in either hydrocarbon E&P, refining, pipelines or LNG terminals.

Korea’s power utility, Korea Western Power Company (Kowepo) has initiated arbitration measures against India. Kowepo has cited "not honouring fuel supply commitment to its gas-based power plant in Maharashtra" as the reason in the arbitration notice. The Korean firm holds 40% stakes in Pioneer Gas Power Limited (PGPL) which runs a 388 Mw project in Raigad. Kowepo is seeking resolution of issues in 6 months or $400-million in compensation.

The former chairman of India's ONGC, DK Sarraf revealed that ONGC bought the stakes of Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC) in KG basin block at Rs 8,000 crore when the asking price was Rs 20,000 crore. He said that unlike the comments of opposition, ONGC’s move to meet the disinvestment target through GSPC by selling the stake in HPCL was “strategic and of immense value proposition”.

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and UAE Minister of States and Group CEO of ADNOC, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber met at an invitation-only energy leaders’ roundtable. Al Jaber stressed on expanding investment and partnership opportunities, mainly in the energy sector. He said, “ADNOC is ready to work with its existing and potential new partners to meet the growing demand for energy and petrochemical products in India,”

If sources were to be believed, French energy major, Total is planning to buy stakes in the LNG and city gas projects of Adani Group. The Indian multinational owns 25% stakes in just-completed LNG import terminal at Mundra, apart from building another terminal at Dhamra in Odisha. Total is looking forward to buy 50% of Adani’s interests in the two terminals, apart from stakes in Adani’s already thriving CGD projects.

Top oil majors from around the world will meet India’s Prime Minister today to talk about investment opportunities in the country. Executives from firms like BP, Shell, Exxon, Saudi Aramco, will also provide suggestions to the Government on how to cope with the current situation, and introducing better policy reforms to attract foreign investments. RIL’s chairman Mukesh Ambani and Saudi’s oil minister will be attending the meeting as well.

A top US envoy on Iran is en route to India this week to hold talks, ahead of the next wave of US sanctions scheduled on November 4. US administration is persuading oil importing countries to bring down their import of Iranian oil to zero. Hook will also visit Europe to further discuss US foreign policy toward Iran.

If sources were to be believed, Saudi Arabia will supply additional 4 million barrels of crude to Indian buyers in November. This act by Saudi Arabia shows that the world’s biggest oil producer wants to curb the supply gap that will be created due to US sanctions against Iran. According to the sources, HPCL, RIL, BPCL and Mangalore Refinery will buy 1 million barrels each from the oil producing nation.

India’s state-run oil and gas company, ONGC is planning on buying 27 drilling rigs that would cost Rs 3,000-3,500 crore. The new purchase has been planned to replace nearly half of its ageing onland rigs. ONGC has floated a tender for the same in search of interested suppliers. The new rigs will replace some of the ageing fleet of 67 rigs currently operating at the company’s offshore fields.

Sources have said that CNPC-owned PetroChina is setting up its first office in South Asia to look for business opportunities in oil and liquefied natural gas. The move is seen as Chinese oil major’s strategy of expanding its role in overseas markets. According to the Indian Ministry of Corporate Affairs website, the company was listed as PetroChina International (India) in July with a total paid-up capital of $444,000 in Mumbai.

According to sources, India’s ONGC is trying to find out the location and size of oil and gas reservoirs at Ganga basin near Kasganj-Etah-Farrukhabad border. Seismic data survey is being done in order to get the details of the rock types and their locations beneath the surface of the Earth. Seven-member team is completing the survey by digging small borewells at a farm in the Tajpur Tigra village of Patiyali.